Relief: An Absence of Fear
by PirateTink
Summary: "She screamed his name because she hoped he might hear. André was up on stage playing their new song, Robbie was with Rex and his Northridge girls, but Beck was in the back, hanging out in the bed of his pick-up - only Jade wasn't there anymore, she was standing off to the side with Cat. So Tori screamed Beck's name, hoping he might hear her, and come help her." Warning: Violence.


I feel the need to preface this story with a warning: There is violence in this story. It is not bloody or gory, but it is violence, and it is in the form of an adult unduly laying his hand on a minor, and another's self-defense. I do not condone such behavior, I merely used it as a prop in a story line.

I do not own the characters used in this story, I simply lay claim to this specific ordering of the written word.

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She screamed his name because she hoped he might hear.

André was up on stage playing their new song - "their" because she wrote it with him. Robbie was towards the front of the group with Rex and his Northridge girls, not that he would have been much help. But Beck was in the back, hanging out in the bed of his pick-up as he so often did with Jade during outdoor concerts - only Jade wasn't there anymore, she was standing off to the side with Cat. So Tori screamed Beck's name, hoping he might hear her, and come help her.

Later she might chalk it up to her singer's lungs, but in that moment, she gave Beck the credit for having amazing hearing, because she could only shout his name once, before her mouth was so rudely covered. Or maybe he was just tuned into her voice, because the second he heard her shout, his head whipped around looking for her. With all the cheering for André going on, on top of his music, it was a miracle Beck knew to run behind the storage buildings on the other side of the parking lot from the lunch area, but again, maybe he was just tuned into her voice.

When Beck showed up mere seconds after she called for him, Tori was sure she had never been so happy to see anyone before in her life. He froze for a moment, she assumed out of fear or shock, before her attacker jamming his knee into her gut threw Beck into motion. He immediately grabbed the man by the shoulders and pulled him backwards, away from her. She was too scared to even slump to the ground in exhaustion, standing frozen against the wall instead. Beck was able to land a sharp kick to the man's side - where Tori was sure she heard a crack, but really, who knows with all the other noise - before the man gained his balance and attempted to push Beck off of him. Beck is really much stronger than he looks though.

They fought together for a few moments more, before the man punched Beck in the face, and he retaliated by twisting the man's arm behind his back, tripping him, and shoving his face into the ground. When he didn't move to get up, Beck crouched over and put his hands on his knees, catching his breath. After he was sure the man wasn't going to move, and that his lungs weren't going to spontaneously burst into flame, he turned back around to look at Tori.

She didn't know how she felt. She knew she was probably supposed to feel scared, but ever since Beck showed up she didn't feel anything. Later, she would explain it to herself that after the intense fear for her life she experienced, relief might simply feel like an absence of that fear, but right now she was still frozen against the wall.

Beck approached her slowly, why, she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed his arms around her right then, and her broken whisper of "Beck," was enough to get him to move faster. He was in front of her in the next second, holding his hands to her face, his eyes briefly searching her for wounds before locking onto her wide and startled gaze. They stood like that for a moment, Beck crouched down slightly so that their eyes were at the same level. In their stare was his silent question if she was ok, and she bobbed her head ever so slightly to let him know she was.

The crowd was shouting for André when Tori's gaze shifted to just over Beck's shoulder, and he didn't even pause as he spun around and landed a kick square in the man's stomach. As he doubled over, Beck grabbed his shoulders and brought his foot up between the other man's legs, hard enough to hear a crunch, and Beck felt sympathy pains before pulling his right hand back and delivering an uppercut to the man's jaw. As Beck stumbled back towards Tori, the man fell to the ground, clearly unconscious.

Beck wasted no time, spinning around and gathering Tori into his arms, just holding her to him. She broke down finally, grabbing the front of his shirt with her hand and sobbing into the material. He murmured reassurances to her, but they fell on deaf ears. All she could focus on at the moment was that she was safe, and Beck was holding her.

After she had somewhat cried herself out, Beck pulled back slightly, so he could once again look into her eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked her seriously. It was the first thing either of them had really said, besides her two broken calls of his name. She nodded to answer him. "No, are you actually ok? What did he do to you?" Beck inquired further, his need to protect her now hardwired to his mouth.

She nodded again, whispering "Yes," before clearing her throat and telling him "I'm fine. He didn't hurt me that much."

"What. Did. He. Do?" he asked again, his controlled rage at the unconscious man on the ground seeping into his voice.

Tori pulled her gaze from his eyes down to his mouth, and saw that it was locked, tendons standing out on his neck. She untwined her right hand from his shirt and brought it up to his face, so she could run her finger down the sharp line of his jaw. He relaxed under her touch, and as she ran her fingers up to his cheekbone, he turned his head to kiss her palm. "Please," he said quietly, "tell me he didn't hurt you, he didn't rape you. Not before I could get here."

"No, he didn't," Tori told him seriously. Beck tucked her under his chin then, cradling her against his chest. "But he probably would have, if you hadn't come when you did." He briefly tightened his hold around her. "Thank you," she told him, tears leaking out of her eyes again.

"Always," he replied, not attempting to hide his own.

Later, she knew she would feel the pain, and figured her emotions would probably catch up to her, but right now, she could focus on Beck, and him holding her, and the fact that he saved her. That part, she knew, wouldn't change.

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Thanks for reading. I've had this story brewing for a long time, but never put it up because I was never "finished" with it. The original story was what you just read, but then I continued writing for it, and am still playing around with there being more. It feels complete to me, but there are always more possibilities that go skipping around in my head and beg to be let out into existence. If I ever finish the rest, I might put it up. You never know. :)


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